The 2008 Rail Safety Awareness Week was the second to be held in conjunction with the Australasian Rail Association. The objective was to lift awareness of rail safety not only in the main centres but in remoter areas as well. The participating organisations – ONTRACK, KiwiRail, NZ Transport Agency, Chris Cairns Foundation - tried to ensure we covered both the North and South Islands as well as getting outside the main centres.Key projectsSunday 20 July
- ONTRACK released black spot level crossing areas for New Zealand. It provided a comprehensive look by territorial authority of areas with the worst collision history. This received good nationwide coverage in print, radio and television.
- National screening of South Australian rail safety advertisement started. We had such good feedback from running them in 2007 we decided to use them again for one last time.
Monday 21 July
- Chris Cairns Foundation delivered “hi viz” vests to every pupil at Rolleston Primary School. Many children at this school have to walk alongside and cross the main trunk line south. Rolleston is the location where Chris Cairns lost his sister Louise after a truck failed to stop at a crossing and hit the train she was travelling on.
Tuesday 22 July
- In the morning Chris Cairns travelled to Huntly, a small town south of Auckland and spoke to pupils about rail safety and showed a 4-minute DVD.
- He then travelled further south to Ngaruawahia that has the main trunk line go through their town. Some years ago an 8 year old boy died after being hit by a train while he was playing on a rail bridge. There Chris had a billboard and local children put in crosses in front of the billboard for each fatality that has occurred this year.
- In the afternoon he returned to Auckland to travel on what is called the “cattle train”. It is a commuter train crammed with close to 600 teenage high school students. He spoke to the students and handed out pamphlets with rail safety messages.
Wednesday 23 July
- A reception at Parliament to mark Rail Safety Awareness Week was hosted by Transport Safety Minister Harry Duynhoven.
Friday 25 July
- ONTRACK released statistics showing education and work on collision-prone level crossings has reduced the incidence of collisions.
Saturday 26 July/Sunday 27 July
- Heritage operators used rail events already planned to hand out rail safety flags to all children
Overall it was another pleasing year in terms of awareness and media interest. The rail industry as a whole work well together for this week and that helps immensely with us achieving the results we are now seeing.
Look out for details of the 2009 Rail Safety Awareness Week.